~a look back/CRISTINA TORO
CRISTINA TORO/IMAGE COURTESY: LITTLE CAKES LITTLE GALLERY
CRISTINA TORO/installation shot/IMAGE COURTESY: LITTLE CAKES LITTLE GALLERY
. . . one of Hanna’s favorite shows, (and artlovers’ too !!) was the two-part show Little Cakes Little Gallery presented 2 winters ago: FEB 2 – MARCH 18, 2007 – ‘The More She Saw – The Less She Spoke’ – paintings by CRISTINA TORO. unfortunately, artlovers’ coverage of the show, fell thru the cracks, as, at that time – artlovers was dealing with its own gentrification/eviction issues – from it’s Lower East Side home of more than 10 yrs . . .
so, as a gesture of thank you towards Hanna Fushihara Aron – for her vision & contribution to the art scene – which, we are sure will continue – just in another context & locale – here’s a special look back.
the image from the card/a large painting by CRISTINA TORO/IMAGE COURTESY: LITTLE CAKES LITTLE GALLERY
CRISTINA TORO – a show of some large & some small – highly detailed acrylic paintings.
‘The More She Saw – The Less She Spoke’
a two-part show – that ran: FEB 2-FEB 18, 2007/MARCH 2-18, 2007
LITTLE CAKES LITTLE GALLERY – 625 EAST 6TH ST. #1B – EAST VILLAGE – NYC
some background:
“CRISTINA TORO – was born during the summer of 1983 on the small island of Puerto Rico. As a child she explored the island’s rain forests and El Morro castle with her father. She learned letters, numbers, and the names of animals by climbing inside heavily collaged cardboard boxes filled with images carefully chosen by her mother… She had many pets including countless canaries, a gray miniature schnauzer, and a small orchid whose flowers looked like tigers. At the age of ten Cristina and her family moved to the swampy and strange land of Florida where she resided until a year ago when she moved to the frozen north of New York state in order to invent new ways of living and making art. She enjoys growing vegetables in her garden during warmer months and singing to herself while playing hypnotic music on her autoharp.
“The paintings in ‘The More She Saw – The Less She Spoke’ were created during the first year Cristina lived in the temperate Northeast. Having lived her whole life in tropical climates, she adjusted to her new surroundings by retreating into her new home, not unlike a sea creature retreating inside its shell, in order to make her secretive, personal paintings. She found comfort in surrounding herself with remnants of her childhood like the delicate vellum cards embossed and painted by her mother, her small collection of embroidered baby blankets and handkerchiefs, and old books on botany and science. At this time, Cristina also rediscovered her works of art made as a child and began to relate deeply to how she had rendered people, trees and flowers. Much of this can be seen in the stylized simplicity she uses to paint some of the characters in her paintings that verge on standing alone as symbols and the way Cristina deliberately chooses to defy conventional perspective. This can be seen clearly in her larger works which at first trick many into believing that she is using collage to obtain the flattened effect of layered patterns when in fact she paints all of this by hand. Other influences that can be readily recognized are from the miniature paintings of India, Persia, and Turkey, the Unicorn Tapestries, and Chinese landscape paintings.” ~Little Cakes press release
. . . if I remember correctly, Hanna told me she met Cristina Toro – when Cristina sent her some submissions, examples of her artwork, unsolicted, via the Internet, and, Hanna loved them – at first sight !!
CRISTINA TORO. behind her – a view of her show: ‘The More She Saw – The Less She Spoke’, Part II – at Little Cakes Little Gallery, East Village, NYC, March 2-18, 2007
CRISTINA TORO, small acrylic painting, on canvas.
CRISTINA TORO.
installation shot, CRISTINA TORO.
CRISTINA TORO.
CRISTINA TORO.
CRISTINA TORO with her work.
Cristina brought along her pal, & fellow painter, ULYSSES JACKSON – he’s in the tiny back office – just behind the viewing/exhibition space at Little Cakes, which is in a ground floor storefront/apt on 6th St. in the East Village.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, MARCH 23, 2007
the above pix – were from Part II – of the exhibit – here are, some pix from Part I:
CRISTINA TORO, small painting, acrylic on canvas stretcher.
CRISTINA TORO – large acrylic painting on canvas stretcher.
detail, top left hand corner. CRISTINA TORO.
detail, CRISTINA TORO.
detail, CRISTINA TORO.
CRISTINA TORO, large, finely detailed, acrylic painting on canvas.
(yes, it’s the painting for the show’s card – above.)
CRISTINA TORO, detail left hand edge.
CRISTINA TORO, detail bottom edge.
CRISTINA TORO, detail.
CRISTINA TORO, detail.
(particularly love this section – as it appears to reproduce a ‘dot’ pattern printed on plastic – as in a shower curtain, or maybe the shiny plastic ’tissue’ paper – fresh flowers – often come wrapped in !!)
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. CRISTINA TORO, Part 1, ‘The More She Saw – The Less She Spoke’ – Little Cakes Little Gallery, East Village, NYC. FEB 2, 2007
more info: CRISTINA TORO/at Little Cakes